Deal signed to equip vehicles with tactile sensing tech

The integration of Tactile Mobility’s pioneering sensing software into the BMW Group’s vehicle models marks a new era of sensing-based innovation in the automotive industry. The collaboration will equip the BMW Group’s vehicles with the ability to analyse the road surface attributes under their tires, enabling accurate detection of road conditions and unprecedented vehicle dynamics management functions to enhance availability and performance.

Tactile Mobility provides a software suite which utilises vehicles’ built-in, non-visual sensors to collect and analyse data about vehicle/road dynamics, enabling smart and connected vehicles to analyse the road surfaces below their tires as well as modeling vehicle systems performance and road conditions.

In-vehicle, rea time data includes attributes such as available grip level, which signifies the specific vehicle/road traction limits. Tactile Mobility’s VehicleDNA is an anonymised representation of each vehicle’s systems characteristics, including suspensions, powertrain, braking efficiency, tire health, and more.

SurfaceDNA is a bundle of mapping layers of road attributes, conditions and distresses that offers an in-depth view of driving environments to better anticipate road conditions ahead and pre-configure vehicle systems. The integration of Tactile Mobility’s software into BMW’s software stack is an acknowledgment of tactile sensing and data’s great promise for the automotive industry.

“We are thrilled to partner with the BMW Group to equip their smart and future automated vehicles with the sense of ‘touch’ and show the commercial viability of tactile sensing technology,” said Boaz Mizrachi, Tactile Mobility’s Co-founder and CTO.

The long term cooperation between the BMW Group and Tactile Mobility began through the BMW Startup Garage, the Venture Client unit of the BMW Group.

“We are appreciative of the support the BMW Startup Garage and the entire team at the BMW Group has given us and look forward to working together to provide smart and connected vehicles with a more comprehensive picture of the driving environments around them, which will now include the tactile sense,” said Rani Plaut, Executive Board Member of Tactile Mobility. “Our dedicated team has been working towards this type of commercial integration for years, and we’re excited to see the results implemented in the BMW Group’s fleet of vehicles.”